The Messiah Who Rode A Flying Matzoh To Jerusalem

1. The Glad Tidings
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Hebrew University religion professor Gershom Scholem deemed kabbalistic literature to be essential to understanding the history of the Jewish people.

Half-articulated muttterings about mystical secrets, symbols and images, all rooted in the world of esoterica and in the abstruse speculations of the kabbalist, became transformed, in my eyes, into invaluable keys to an understanding of important historical processes and into matters worthy of profound analysis and serious discussion. (x)

Gematria (numerology), astrology, alchemy, prophecy, psychic travels to the heavens: they have all played a role in Jewish mysticism through the ages. But the most powerful mystical phenomenon throughout the ages was messianism.

The maamin (believers) in a messiah would meet in darkened rooms in front of bimahs (podiums) of gold. The most extensive of these movements, the Sabbatians (followers of the Turkish rabbi Sabbatai Zevi, 1626-1676) had followers high up in the rabbinical establishment generations after Sabbatai's death. Rabbi Jonathan Eybechutz, a noted talmudist of the 18th century and a secret Sabbatian, may have had in his possession a document which revealed the names of his fellow Sabbatians in Amsterdam and the influence they had over Jewish life there.

The Sabbatian sect of the Donmeh, secret Jews who pretended to be Muslim, would meet in their darkened halls and send telepathic messages to Jews on the outside, both Sabbatian and Non-Sabbatian. They thus continued to influence history right up to the time of their dissolution in the middle of the 20th century.


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Sabbatai Zevi and the World-To-Come

CHAPTER 1
MESSIANITY (p. 237)

"Sabbatai Zevi will take the dominion from the Turkish king without war, for by the power of the hymns and praises which he shall utter, all nations shall submit to his rule."--Nathan of Gaza (p. 272)

A Great And Tragic Chapter In Jewish History

If we study "Jewish religious civilization" as set forth in its literature, we can observe that the leading factor in its evolution has been the advent, in every generation, of Jews who pass beyond received tradition. These Jews perceive truths which were hitherto unknown. The messiah, the mystic, the prophet, the tzaddik--these are the people on whom tiqqun olam, the transformation of the world, depends. As Scholem says:

In every generation a few souls escape from the qelippah [the 'shell' and sphere of evil] and enter the cycle of purification and tiqqun ['mending,' 'restoration,' and 'regeneration'], migrating from one body to another throughout the four kingdoms of nature until their [personal] tiqqun is complete.
--Gershom Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, p. 40

In our traditions we see abundant illustrations of the importance of these great exemplars of Judaism. But the greatest exemplar of them all would be the true messiah:

The messiah will be a very great king, whose government will be in Zion. He will achieve great fame, and his reputation among the nations will be even greater than that of King Solomon. His great righteousness and the wonders that he will bring about will cause all peoples to make peace with him and all lands to serve him.--Maimonides (1135-1204), commentary on Sanhedrin 10:1

Throughout the centuries, whenever normative Judaism loses its meaning to some, or Jews are denied rule of Israel, messiahs arise. One of them, Bar Kochba in the 2nd century, led an abortive revolt against the Romans in Judea in the 2nd century. The historical Jesus, about whom little is known, was probably also a messianic claimant.

In more modern times messianic cults form around

• Isaac Luria in the 16th century,
  
• Jacob Frank in the 18th
  
• and Menachem Schneerson in the 20th.
  

Whatever we may think of their respective cults, messiahs have had a major impact on Judaism.

SABBATAI ZEVI AND THE WORLD-TO-COME

A GREAT AND TRAGIC CHAPTER IN JEWISH HISTORY


1. A Glow Of True Messiah

a glow of true messiah
whose faithful saw joy light
his rising from the nether depths
spear set on rock
o he was light
...I'm faithful
to believers in Zevi Sultan
my belief in him a tree
lit up high mountains
days since he crushed that snake
lit up high mountains
lit up the moon by daylight

--Four Poems For Sabbatai Zevi The True Messiah As Drawn From Hymns Sung By His Faithful Followers After His Conversion To Islam For The Greater Glory Of The God Of Israel, translated from Ladino by Jerome Rothenberg and Harris Lenowitz

If we study kabbalah it becomes clear that the "raising of the sparks," the restitution of mankind's original spiritual nature, is complex and time-consuming. But even so there are those who are able achieve it:

In every generation a few souls escape from the qelippah [the 'shell' and sphere of evil] and enter the cycle of purification and tiqqun ['mending,' 'restoration,' and 'regeneration'], migrating from one body to another throughout the four kingdoms of nature until their tiqqun is complete.
--Gershom Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, p. 40

Historically the adherents of Gentile religions abandoned the task of tiqqun, which was first given to Adam. Non-Jewish religions, like Judaism, also include some holy "sparks" waiting to be raised and restored. However, the most opportunities for tiqqun olam, global healing, were and are among Jews. Had Jews achieved it in the past then the lion would have lain down with the lamb, fulfilling Isaiah's promise of world peace.

That is one meaning of the concept of the chosen people.

Surely an opportunity for tiqqun olam, when it presents itself, is one of the greatest events in the history of the planet. Sabbatai Zevi (b. Izmir, Turkey, 1626-1676) proclaimed almost 350 years ago that such an opportunity was at hand. Even after his forced conversion to Islam and subsequent natural death Sabbatai's followers asserted that it was not too late to seize the opportunity presented by his mission.

After three centuries of existence the last remaining Sabbatians, a community of Turkish secret Jews called the Donmeh, finally died out. But at the same time, thanks to the scholarship of Gershom Scholem at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, accurate knowledge of Sabbatai among academics and the general population has spread. There are today more openly-identified Jews who know about Amirah (a title which Sabbatai received from his followers) than there were a century ago.

Indeed, the knowledge of Sabbatai Zevi's past, present and glorious future is growing and will grow for as long as there are Jews until it covers the planet. People will understand that the rebirth of Israel in modern times, the end of Exile, the Haskalah, the rise of the Hasidim and of Sabbatai's successor Nachman of Bratslav all occurred in part because of Sabbatai. If he had not lived then it would all have ended in the last century. Everything.

We wouldn't be here. We can only be here online reading and writing this because Sabbatai lived. Sure things went wrong; he didn't get to fulfill his messianic promise when he lived.

Put it another way: materialism is pain. Remember that only a few, out of millions of Jews, are able to transmigrate their souls and leave the qelipah behind. It doesn't have to always be that way, but it has been so ever since the days of Adam Qadmon, the Primordial Man.

Traditional Sabbatianism is gone. Because its last vestiges in the 20th-century were based upon apostasy it had outlived its usefulness. By 1756, when non-Sabbatian Jews excommunicated the remaining Sabbatians, the tradition went completely underground.

Sabbatianism, like Karaism, is one of several alternative Judaisms that have either died out or are now on their last legs. Now is the opportunity to reintegrate Sabbatai Zevi back into mainstream Judaism: what went right in his mission; what went wrong; what should not have happened; and what has to happen again someday.

It is time to rescue Sabbatai Zevi from the qelippah. That is what the saying "bring moshiach now" means. And, when we do, tikkun olam will occur and the entire planet will bask in "a glow of true messiah."